North of Ordinary by Angela Grey is a collection of interconnected stories set in small northern towns where the landscape shapes the lives within it. The opening introduction establishes a world built from familiar places such as lakes, diners, bait shops, and bars, where repetition...

Parallel Peril by Maria Lynn Barrs is an enthralling story that I rank among my top reads of the year, so far. Dallas TV journalist Vicky Robeson is on vacation and has just been promoted to News Director. While on a two-week vacation in California,...

In Showboat Soubrette by Brodie Curtis, the story begins with Stella Parrot, a talented, popular Native American showboat singer, performing aboard Lady J along the Mississippi River. Taking place in the years leading up to the Civil War, she travels from town to town, captivating...

In Richard Siciliano’s The Man Who Obviated Christmas, Edward Brash, a middle-aged manager who has spent years limiting his life to work and routine, walks out of his office on Christmas Eve and is pulled into a street crisis when children tell him their kitten...

Have you ever had to stop for a moment because things felt different, and you couldn’t explain why? In Anomaly by Jennifer Milne, Mirielle “Elle” Coleman is a young woman whose life always feels like it is changing in ways she can’t control. From childhood,...

In Stolen Secrets by S.F. Baumgartner, FBI Special Agent Charlie O’Rourke believed adopting Jamie would keep her safe. Charlie was trying to shield her from threats tied to a past he hoped to leave behind. For twelve years, Jamie lived under a carefully constructed identity,...

Anna Belfrage’s Queen of Shadows is set in fourteenth-century Castile, where Alma’s future changes when she is taken into the household of Doña Leonor de Guzmán, the king’s companion whose position draws both favor and hostility. What begins as service becomes responsibility as Alma learns...

Tribute by C.S. Kading and Tony Fuentes is an enthralling dark fantasy novel set against the paranoia of 1984 Cold War Romania. The time to face him has come. Eight years have passed since he looked at her with pure hatred and not love, and...

Palms and Pomegranates by L.S. Csida is one of those atmospheric novels that really pulls you into its setting—a North African city caught right in the middle of a tug-of-war between ancient traditions and modern hustle. Perin's first week brings everything at once: a violent...

Gap Year by Lindsey Goldstein introduces forty-six-year-old CPA Jane Greenberg, whose life is disrupted when her daughter Liza leaves for a gap year in Spain. Just then, her husband, Clark, confesses that he is having an affair. Distraught, Jane decides to leave everything behind, including...